Natural Feed Plant Announces Expansion

STANLEY, WIS. -- The concept is called value added, and it's all about wringing out the most from what others consider junk.

It is what has Stanley excited about landing two new plants worth $56 million next to the ACE Ethanol plant. And it has Gov. Jim Doyle bubbling over what this means for Wisconsin.

"This is an enormously great opportunity for the state," Doyle told hundreds of students and area residents gathered at Stanley-Boyd High School Tuesday afternoon.

Doyle was in Stanley to give the ethanol plant a state incentives check of $1.3 million. And it was at that ceremony that ACE Biorefining LLC and Natural Chem Group formally announced they are building plants next to the ethanol plant. Both companies will take ethanol processing byproducts and turn them into either chemicals or livestock feed.

Natural Chem had looked elsewhere to start a plant, but Stanley had the right ingredients in place, said Robert J. Salazar, president of the Houston-based company.

Other sites with ethanol plants didn't have the work ethic displayed at Stanley, he said. And ACE officials Alex Samardzich, Norm Spooner and plant general manager Terry Kulesa took the time to talk to Natural Chem.

"Alex is an exceptional business person," Salazar said.

Natural Chem's subsidiary, Natural Nutrients, will operate the Stanley plant, which will employ 30 people.

"We're going to hire the maximum we can locally," he said.

The firm will take the byproduct liquids in the ethanol process and wring out the raw materials for nutraceutical feed supplements. Then the material will be shipped to another plant the company is building in Corning, Iowa, for further refinement.

Salazar said Natural Chem began in 1994 and has worked with Iowa since 1996, using that state's research and development funds. He said the company currently employs 12 people.

Natural Chem's goal is to have 20 plants similar to the one that will be built in Stanley.

The other plant will be built by ACE Biorefining LLC, a separate company from the one that operates the ethanol plant. The new $16 million plant is a joint venture by ACE Ethanol and Biorefining, Inc., based in Golden Valley, Minn., and will employ about 20 workers.

It will process 20,000 tons of distiller's grain annually, squeezing out such things as starch and corn oil that will be sold to industry distributors. Biorefining holds a patent on extraction process, which it says eliminates the need for massive amounts of water and use of harsh chemicals.

This is a day a long time coming, said state Agriculture Secretary Rod Nilsestuen.

"It's an effort that is going to help (Wisconsin) be a major player in the renewable energy field," he predicted.

Doyle said it will also cut the loop on the state having to export its corn production to Minnesota and other states, only to have ethanol produced there shipped back to Wisconsin.

Now the state will be able to have the corn that is produced here turned into products to be used within the state and exported to others -- all while giving farmers another market where they can sell corn, the governor said.

"The opportunities for a huge market for our corn market is before us," Doyle said.

He added: "As the corn grows, Wisconsin grows."

BY ROD STETZER THE CHIPPEWA HERALD

Reach Rod Stetzer at rstetzer@chippewa.com.